A very informative USNews Report Article by Betsy Mayotte lays out the various ways student loans can affect mortgage eligibility. The report covers FHA loans, USDA loans, and VA loans. For example, in the past FHA underwriting rules allowed "consumers who had their student loan payments deferred for at least 12 months" to exclude that debt from the overall debt-to-income ratio." This is no longer the case. Now deferred loans will be included in the debt-to-income calculation "to the tune of 2 percent of the student loan amount or about $200 for every $10,000 owed." Read the article here.